Who enjoys the wedding more - the Bride or Groom? | Ella Al-Shamahi

Do you ever get the impression that the bride is more into the wedding than the groom? So, there is this teeny, teeny, teeny bit of research that I came across that um actually upset me. So, about 16 years ago, this one science writer decided that she wanted to test this very thing at her own wedding. And so, she invited

Professor Zak, who's like the godfather of the hormone oxytocin, which is kind of a complicated hormone but seen as a bonding hormone, to attend her wedding and withdraw blood from a bunch of people in the wedding party. So, he literally turns up with syringes and a centrifuge to test people just before the ceremony and literally just after

the vows. And he found that the bride had the highest spike in oxytocin, so about 28%. Do you know who came next? Think it was the groom? Cuz it wasn't. It was the mother of the bride. And then it was the father of the bride. And then it was the groom. This research really

annoys me, especially because he did have a spike in a particular hormone. He had the highest spike in testosterone. So, basically, she's sitting there feeling all like warm and fuzzy and bonding and he is I don't know. He's thinking about his honeymoon, I guess. Now, there are two things I have to say about this

research. One is this is a tiny, tiny, tiny sample size. Like, this is not really research, in my opinion, because this is one wedding party. This is one bride. This is one groom. However, Professor Zak was not actually that surprised that the bride had the highest peak in oxytocin because he has noticed

just across the board that women seem to peak with oxytocin more than men. He's not sure if it's that women are more emotional or just generally have more oxytocin or just that apparently women want to get married more. But, there is another take home from this message, there's a more serious take home. And